Derf Backderf on The Dissidents: Autocrats! Vigilantes! Communists! And Cartoonists!

For generations, political cartoonists have leveraged the versatility of art and satire to challenge politics of the time. Yet in the 1910s, a group of cartoonists and journalists called "The Masses" pushed back against a corrupt administration and found themselves in the crosshairs of government persecution.

Called "the cartoonist we need in these uncertain times" by Cleveland Magazine, John "Derf" Backderf's latest graphic novel, The Dissidents: Autocrats! Vigilantes! Communists! And Cartoonists! is praised as a visual anthem on racism, violence, and political turmoil—seeping with political energy that still feels relevant today.

Derf Backderf is the international bestselling and award-winning author of My Friend Dahmer, Trashed, and Kent State. He is the recipient of the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for political cartooning. His weekly comic strip, The City, appeared in more than 150 newspapers for nearly 25 years. He lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and, like one of "The Masses" political cartoonists featured in The Dissidents, is an alumnus of Ohio State University.

Join us as Ideastream Public Media's Mike McIntyre sits down with Derf Backderf to discuss his latest graphic novel and what this forgotten moment in political history can tell us about the defense of free speech, the free press, and democracy in our nation today.

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